Cimbalom
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- This article is about the stringed instrument; for other uses, see Santouri (disambiguation).
The cimbalom (most common spelling), cymbalom, cymbalum (see Trivia), ţambal, tsymbaly, tsimbl, santouri, or sandouri is a type of hammered dulcimer found mainly in Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Poland and Greece. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia it is also known as a cimbal.
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[edit] History
The instrument became popular with Jewish klezmorim as well as Slavic and Magyar (Hungarian) musicians, as well as Roma (Gypsy) lautari musicians (lăutari); by the end of the 19th century, it was quite widespread, taking the place of the kobza.[1] In Wallachia it is used almost as a percussion instrument. In Transylvania and Banat, the style of playing is more tonal, heavy with arpeggios.
[edit] Types
The small cimbalom usually is carried by the musician, using a strap around the player's neck and leaning one edge of the instrument against the player's waist. The cimbalom is played by striking two beaters against the strings.
In Hungary, the larger, concert cimbalom, comparable in pitch range (and weight) to a small piano—but still normally played with beaters—was first developed by József Schunda in the 1870s. It stands on four legs, has many more strings, and the later models had a damping pedal; before this, the player damped the strings using his coat sleeves. This instrument eventually found its way to districts of Romania, because they were part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. In Romania, this large cimbalom is known as the ţambal mare (literally "great cimbalom"). These instruments are fully chromatic and have a range of four octaves.
A small cimbalom was also later produced in Ukraine during the 1950s that came with attachable legs and dampers, but could be carried more easily than a concert instrument. These instruments were produced by the Chernihiv factory which produced many types of folk instruments.
[edit] Compositions for cimbalom
One composer who made use of the cimbalom was Zoltán Kodály. His orchestral suite, Háry János, made extensive use of the instrument and helped make it well known outside Eastern Europe. Igor Stravinsky was also an enthusiast, and he owned one, and included one in his ballet Renard (as well as the original (1917) scoring for "Les Noces"). Other composers like Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös, György Kurtág, Frank Zappa and Louis Andriessen have made a great use of cimbalom in their works. Henri Dutilleux used it in Mystère de l'Instant for chamber orchestra. Elvis Costello's orchestral ballet score Il Sogno includes several extended cimbalom passages. Harrison Birtwistle's opera The Minotaur (2008) requires a cimbalom as well.
[edit] In film
Cimbalom has occasionally been used in film scores, especially to introduce a "foreign" feel. The cimbalom appears in Christmas in Connecticut in a scene in Felix's (S.Z. Sakall) Hungarian restaurant in Manhattan. Cimbalom was used in the film score for the movie In the Heat of the Night. Composer Carmine Coppola made heavy use of the cimbalom in his soundtrack for The Black Stallion to accentuate the Arabian heritage of the majestic horse. John Barry used it in the title theme for the film The Ipcress File, as well as in the main theme of the 1971 TV series The Persuaders!. In addition, John Williams has made less prominent use of the instrument in scores such as Raiders of the Lost Ark. More recently, Howard Shore used the cimbalom as well to express Gollum's sneaky nature in Peter Jackson's film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
[edit] Occurrence and names
The instrument is known by different names in different countries and when played in different styles. A partial list follows:
- Belarus: tsymbaly (цымбалы)
- Czech Republic: cimbál (IPA: [ʦɪmbaːl])
- France: cymbalum
- Germany: Zymbal
- Greece: sandouri (σαντούρι)
- Holland: cimbaal, hakkebord
- Hungary: cimbalom
- Klezmer & Jewish music: tsimbl
- Latvia: cimbole
- Lithuania: cimbolai
- Poland: cymbały węgierskie
- Romania: ţambal (the large cimbalom is called ţambal mare)
- Russia: tsymbaly (цимбалы)
- Slovakia: cimbal
- Slovenia: cimbale
- Ukraine: tsymbaly (цимбали)
[edit] Cimbalom players
Some notable cimbalom players are:
- Kálmán Balogh: contemporary Hungarian cimbalom virtuoso
- Ildikó Vékony: classical and contemporary Hungarian cimbalom player www.vekonyildiko.hu
- Stuart Brotman of the American klezmer band Brave Old World
- Marcel Comendant within Pacora trio
- Luigi Gaggero: classical and contemporary cimbalom player; professor at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg
- Richard Grimes: American classical cimbalom virtuoso; inventor of the electric cimbalom
- Toni Iordache: Romanian ţambal player
- Giani Lincan: contemporary Romanian virtuoso http://www.lincan.nl/
- Laurence Kaptain: American symphonic/chamber cimbalom artist
- Per Karang: Norwegian cimbalom player
- Jenő Lisztes: Gypsy cimbalom player from the Roby Lakatos ensemble
- Michael Masley: contemporary American who plays the instrument with ten self-designed bowhammers
- Joseph Moskowitz: Father of klezmer "tsimbl"; one of the first to be recorded
- Pete Rushefsky: American klezmer tsimbl player
- Sandu Sura: Moldavian ţambal player
- John H. Leach of Britain played the cimbalom in John Barry's theme music for The Ipcress File and the theme music to The Persuaders, as mentioned in Barry's autobiography.
- Balázs Unger: Hungarian cimbalom player, who plays with The Hun Hangár Ensemble, who recently made an album with US folk duo A Hawk and a Hacksaw, And the Hun Hangar Ensemble
[edit] Trivia
- Cimbalom was used in the film score for the movie In the Heat of the Night (1967).
- The surname Zimbalist means "one who plays the cimbalom".
- A "cymbalum" is not the same instrument as a cimbalom. A "cymbalum" is a part of a medieval instrument, one of a set of 4-8 small bells, made in graded sizes and hung together in a frame, aka "tintinabula" or "campanae"
